Of Superstition and Truth
by blaqroze777
Summary: Prologue The world as we know it doesn't necessarily exist. Focusing on an alternate plane, a war between angels and demons is described and lived while on an alternate plane three Italians who are former contract killers try to find a place they can call home. Religion is corrupt and reversed, and time is not solid. Past, present, and future are all rolled into one.
1. Prologue

Of Superstition and Truth

Prologue

By: Adam Kiser

Angels and demons… an amusing idea, and potentially heartwarming, but completely backwards all the same.

The Bible states that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. The unwritten texts tell of the archangels and the fall of Lucifer and thus his mission to damn the peoples of Earth to hell. The story goes on to tell how the Virgin Mary bore the baby Jesus who sacrificed himself to save humanity and give all humans a chance for their eternal soul to spend eternity in paradise: Heaven. Hell in turn is the condemnation of those people who sinned continually and did not repent and ask for forgiveness. The lake of fire where burning and tearing agony await the damned for eternity. These stories soothe human's hearts and make an easy life for those who believe them and do not wish to spend eternity in purgatory.

The truth however would reduce you (the reader) to a blubbering fool. Madness would be a blessing compared to how essentially shattered your mind would be. Even if the truth was revealed and you didn't crumble you would still be subject to the worse confusion and fear imaginable. You have been told the same stories for as long as you have lived, and therefor know nothing else. To tell you a different truth would make you skeptical, and if you were convinced certain paranoia would settle into your heart. But… because I do not wish to see the human race damned to an eternity of lies and spitefully hidden truths, I will divulge a little of the truth, for no other reason so that you can see the light, no matter how dim, and so you can understand the story I am about to tell you.

Angels and demons; that isn't even their proper names. The true names of these beings are ascendants and descendants. Unfortunately, what you call an angel is what is really called a descendant; a "demon" is an ascendant.

The concept of an Angel: Winged beings that occupy heaven, pleasant in appearance, beautiful, radiant and winged with white feathered wings, standing for what is good and holy in the world.

The concept of a Demon: A fallen angel, the occupants of hell, evil beings that prey upon human fear and suffering in a world that is slowly spiraling out of control, winged with black leather like wings with a skin texture of stone, standing against everything good and holy in the world.

The concept of a Demon is what you call an angel. Where as the concept of an angel is truly what you call a demon. To make this simpler: what you call a demon is an ascendant (the good guy) and what you call an angel is a descendant (the bad guy).

The confusion between the two is as old as the religion of Christianity. The stories were rewritten by descendants before the birth of Jesus, and so the entire human race who believes that they are on the path to salvation and heaven, are truly spiraling towards hell and damnation.

The story begins right after God created Earth.

God created Earth and the universe, the animals and the seas, everything he is credited for in the Holy Bible is true with the exception of the race of man and the creation of heaven and hell. Heaven was already in existence, it was God's place of existence with the "angels".

Lucifer was bored with the animal existence on Earth so he created man. Man was more intelligent than any animal that God had created and God was not pleased. He allowed the existence of man to continue though. Then there was murder by Cain and God decided to destroy man before he could witness the beings destroy themselves and cause him and Lucifer pain. When God attempted to eliminate man Lucifer tried to stop him. The two fought, in a manner of speaking, and God cast Lucifer out of heaven to what is called hell.

God had experienced anger and because he was such a higher being the experience of emotion drove him mad, and since anger was the emotion he felt, heaven became a wasteland. The "angels" started to mutate and become gruesome beings compared to their former selves, and thus the true Hell was born.

As the humans began to die their souls went to what was formerly heaven and suffered. Lucifer saw this and took his new realm and made it into a place of eternity for those humans who would defy God.

Lucifer had his own legion of angelic beings, which had not been subject to the gruesome change their brothers had been, and so were still beautiful beings. These were the ascendants because they felt they had ascended to a higher level than their brothers, the descendants.

A war broke out between the descendants and the ascendants on a realm parallel to our own. Due to the Christian influence on people, the descendants could manifest themselves as men in the material realm. Ascendants however could only interact with the material realm by using a human as a puppet or a host. Some humans fought the possession of the ascendants and thus the possessions were deemed harmful to human beings. This belief led to a series of breakthroughs in exorcisms, sometimes by descendants and other times by priests who were loyal to the God they believed was so righteous. The descendants realized that they could only influence humans to certain degree by interacting with them directly, so the war mainly took place on the parallel plane.

The realm that the descendants and ascendants fought on was so close to the human realm, all that that separated it was a very thin veil that could sometimes be seen through. The veil was penetrated by any occurrence however; meaning that if there was an explosion at a gas station due to a fight between an ascendant and a descendant, then something would happen in the material realm to make that explosion occur at the same moment in the material realm.

Eventually rebel groups began to break out within the ranks of the ascendants and descendants. The war took on a very modern view, focusing more on technology, guns, bombs, and also remaining on more medieval styles of fighting, ranging from swords to bows. After some time, the only way the descendants and ascendants could tell each other apart was merely appearance, focusing on their wings and eyes.

A child was born from a descendant rebel and an ascendant Lieutenant. The child's name was Diminity. He had feathered wings like the ascendants, but they were jet black and appeared to be descendant's wings. His parents were discovered by the descendants when he was only seven years old. Fortunately for Diminity he was not discovered, but tragically, he had to witness his parents brutally murdered by the descendants. Moments after the descendants left, an ascendant captain who was a friend of Diminity's mother came and took Diminity to the Ascendant stronghold where he would be safe and receive military training. Diminity was the pivot point for the war though. Since he had seen his parents murdered by descendants, he aided the ascendants.

A day of rapture was foretold soon after Diminity's birth. December 21, 2012 was the date foretold when the descendants would finally shatter the veil between the two realms and reap the humans whose souls belonged to them.  
Diminity became desperate, and now, a year before that day of rapture the ascendants have finally gained the upper hand. Diminity is currently in a major descendant encampment and is planting explosive charges at key points to destroy the camp. If he succeeds, the war will almost be guaranteed to tip in the ascendants favor. But if he fails, the ascendants may fail, and the day of rapture may indeed come as foretold.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The wind was blowing gently against the trees making the leaves rustle. Just below the rustling of the leaves voices of men could be heard. Under the watchful full moon, a very dangerous man was crouched against a shack on the edge of a Descendant encampment.

Diminity was crouched in the cover of the shadow from a shack, listening to the men (_the descendants!_), trying to pinpoint where they were, and how many there were. He had with him a side carrier containing the essentials for his mission: five blocks of C4, a nine millimeter pistol, a fiber wire, night vision goggles, and a butterfly knife (at his request rather than the standard issue Bowie Knife). He had already picked off two sentries, which hadn't been much of a chore, but his real problem would be silencing the armed guards in the camp without waking the descendant soldiers.

He retrieved the pistol from the bag and holstered it on his hip. He slid the butterfly knife into a holder on his right forearm, giving him easy access to arm himself with it in a split second. The C4 and goggles would stay in the bag; the fiber wire went into a custom holster on his belt.

The voices separated so Diminity assumed the men were going on their rounds. The wind also picked up, to Diminity's advantage. Diminity waited until he was sure the guards were out of sight of each other and then slid into action. He rose from his spot by the shack and placed a brick of C4 on the building, setting the timer to twenty minutes. Stealth was essential to this mission but he didn't need much time to accomplish his goals. Basically he had to pick off the sentries and place C4 at regular intervals among the twenty shacks holding soldiers. He was then to take flight and wait for the explosion, and then pick off any survivors from air.

After he completed the mission he was to report to the Ascendant headquarters and either get his next mission or go back to freelance. That was the wonder of being a half-breed; Diminity actually had that choice where most beings didn't.

A light beep from the electrical device on the bomb told Diminity that the timer had started, which indicated that the ground wire was intact. Diminity slunk like a shadow to the edge of the shack just as a guard approached the corner. The guard was two steps away from the corner; Diminity was at the corner waiting. He pulled the fiber wire taught by the handles, fashioned from soft leather and titanium cores. As the sentry rounded the corner Diminity wasted no time in wrapping the wire around his neck and shattering his esophagus with his inhuman strength. All the guard had time to manage was a muffled garbled sound, that of a drunken man on the edge of consciousness, before the life faded from his eyes. Diminity lay the body down directly under the C4 block and then made his way around the building to eliminate the next guard. He had passed four similar shacks to the one he rigged to explode when the sound of running liquid seemed to explode right around the corner of the fifth building. The smell of urine instantly filled his nose and he barely held back a gag. He drew his nine-millimeter and mounted a silencer as the urinating guard began to sigh. The sound almost drove Diminity mad with anger, the arrogance of these people was too extreme and Diminity had a low tolerance for idiocy. He peeked around the corner and saw that the guard had his back directly to Diminity. Swift and agile as a cat, Diminity strode up behind the guard, not making a sound, and leveled the barrel of the pistol with the base of the sentry's skull. A moment later a small _pfft _sound broke the sound of the man relieving himself, who then crumbled to the ground without a sound. Diminity considered his location, and after a brief moment of thought, mounted a block of C4 to this building too. The timers on all five blocks were synchronized so he didn't have to bother with setting this one, but he did discover that he only had seventeen minutes left to complete the mission. There were two guards left and three buildings to rig to explode, and Diminity was in the mood to kill. The entire camp probably housed 500 soldiers total, not including the guards. The soldiers were supposed to attack a village of Catholics in the morning, a particular group who had come to see the truth of their former "God". Diminity could not allow these soldiers to live, because the men they planned on killing were very influential in the material world, and in the morning, they were going to broadcast their beliefs of what is true and what is false. The Descendants were on the brink of total domination, but the destruction of this particular company would give the Ascendants an unheard of advantage.

Diminity rounded a third building and was face to face with the third of the sentries. Acting upon pure instinct Diminity pistol-whipped him across the temple knocking him staggering and barely holding onto consciousness. He then rolled the pistol over his hand and lined the barrel up with the mans forehead. The trigger was depressed and the mans head whipped back violently as a spray of violet blood littered the grass. He dragged the man over to the edge of the building and placed his third C4 charge. Twelve minutes left to go.

Diminity circled around the complex, listening for the last sentry, hoping against hope that he didn't discover one of his fallen comrades. He came to the fourth building he had to mark for destruction and placed the charge; he had nine minutes remaining. He made his way towards the center of the camp to place the fifth charge, listening for the final sentry, for he was still supposed to dispose of him before he left.

He came to the fifth building without incident and placed the charge. Diminity was just turning to leave when he heard the audible click of a round being chambered on an automatic rifle behind him. Without bothering to look or raise his hands, Diminity turned on the ball of his foot and lunged at his would be assailant. While in mid lunge he drew his butterfly knife and spun it open. Half a second later he was holding the thrashing Descendant on the ground as he removed the blade from the bottom of his jaw.  
Diminity looked around to be sure no one had woken, but the camp was as silent as death. Diminity considered this a job well done, as he turned and collected his gear, and returned to the surrounding forest to await the explosions.

Diminity had an acute sense of time from his training and as he left the camp he knew he had only two minutes left.

He had just crossed the first tree line when he heard a gasp possibly thirty feet behind him. He turned instantly and saw a Descendant grunt that had apparently woken to relieve himself, or maybe just take a relaxing walk in the moonlight. Either way, he was a thorn in Diminity's side. The grunt had walked around one of the shacks, and was now standing over the corpse of one of the sentries. Diminity moved with an inhuman speed, sprinting at the Descendant who was obviously too stupid to call for alarm or help, and spreading his wings at the same time. Not bothering to remain silent he bore down on the Descendant, who turned towards Diminity at the sound of him. The grunts jaw dropped as Diminity lunged at him from five feet away, bringing his wings down to gain air, and clapping a hand over the Descendants mouth as he finally tried to scream. The two were above the camp in a matter of seconds, rising higher and higher with each of the Descendants final heartbeats. They reach possibly 200 feet above the camp and Diminity took his hand from the helpless Descendant who in turn began screaming at the top of his lungs. The sound infuriated Diminity who sank his fingers into the Descendants collar and with the other hand grabbing the Descendant by the groin. With a scream of rage and triumph Diminity pulled his arms apart with all his might, tearing the Descendant in half and throwing the two halves into the forest for the beasts below to feast upon. Diminity hung where he was above the camp as the seconds continued to tick by.

_5… 4… 3… 2…1._ The explosions were simultaneous and shook the air with their shockwave, almost making Diminity lose his balance. He scanned the ground with his angelic vision, and was relieved that there were no fleeing survivors from the attack.

He flew in small circles above the remains of the camp for a half hour, just to be sure that no one had survived, and then he turned north and flew towards the mountains.

The Ascendant headquarters was in Iceland, not far from this location, but it was a demanding flight and Diminity needed to remain focused. Dawn was approaching, and Diminity's next mission, unaware to him, would be the first mission he ever failed.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Diminity strode through the golden doors to the ascendant headquarters with an air of superiority and purpose. As he walked through the vaulted corridors of emerald and diamond his wings folded in and appeared to disappear into his back. It was customary to keep your wings extended while in military bases, but Diminity's wings were easily mistaken for Descendant wings and although Diminity was not a direct ascendant, he still obeyed the laws of the military, including friendly fire regardless of self-defense.

He reported to Christos, the being thought to be god by most religious individuals, or the right hand of god. Christos, however, was a completely different being; less powerful than god, but more powerful than all other Descendants and Ascendants. Christos was also the only remaining seraph, having had six wings, but they were scarred and damaged. This was the reason he was in a leadership position, but didn't directly get involved in the war. Christos, although scarred, was blessed with a beauty that only angels of myth possessed. He was a sound leader and was ruthless against the Descendants.

Diminity made his way through the compound with purpose and speed, eager to report his success so he could be on his next mission. Although he wasn't evil, he did derive a certain enjoyment from killing. The destruction he wrought on the Descendants on his various missions was almost orgasmic at moments and utterly blissful always. He tried to stick to himself and avoid others for fear of hurting them, but recently he had developed a particular liking with Christos. He was like a brother, possibly a father, but either way the closeness was there and therefore Diminity was lowering his emotional block in general. Despite the apparent affection Diminity felt for Christos, Diminity maintained a professional manner when interacting with Christos, and therefor progressed through his missions and work with a haste that was expected and desired from all Ascendants.

As he turned corners and made his way to his briefing he passed a number of Ascendants, each going about his or her own business, some carrying papers and folders, others heading to their barracks, and still others armed and on their way to their own missions. Very few regarded Diminity with trust or distrust, and even fewer noticed him at all. To them he was a liability, nothing more. They knew nothing of his role in the war, and would be shocked if they knew his heritage.

_One day I'm going to be a legend. _He thought, almost bitterly, _and even as I walk amongst them, keeping them alive they show no regard or know nothing of me. The few who do regard me like a general, but how few there are… I want something more. _Diminity did not crave or desire respect or awe, he sometimes enjoyed the solitude, but at times it seemed so unfair, as if he truly were a deserter of the Descendants.

Diminity finally found himself before a grand door constructed of solid onyx. The handles were of cast iron, and the air was cold. The entrance didn't seem like something you would find at the heart of all goodness; in fact the door seemed like something you would expect to lead what was thought to be one of the upper circles of hell. Diminity approached the door, grasped one of the great handles and pushed the door open, inwards. Standing in front of a great window offering a spectacular view of mountains with his back towards Diminity, Christos stood with his wings relaxed and his arms crossed. His blond hair cascaded down his back and stopped inches above the floor. As Diminity entered the room the door fell shut on its own accord. When Diminity heard it securely shut, he dropped to a knee, bowing, and opened his wings, bringing them forward across his chest, as was customary among Ascendant authority. He held his position until Christos turned and acknowledged his presence.

"Rise my child, and tell me of your success." Christos said, again, a custom, not an act of favoritism towards Diminity. The angelic aura that surrounded the Ascendant stronghold was surreal at the least, and completely breath taking. It was almost impossible to feel any level of nervousness or fear when on the premises.

Diminity rose and closed his wings. He put two fingers to his forehead and nodded at Christos, a salute of sorts among the Ascendants. He relayed his mission, the attack on the Descendant camp, the swift deadliness of his silent attacks. The slip of the one guard who he quickly silenced. He retold the tale in perfect detail, never missing a detail. Christos was not surprised, he expected nothing more from Diminity considering how intensely he had trained when a recruit.

Christos nodded, and removed from his robe a scroll. Diminity took the scroll, and a shiver passed through his body when it touched his hand.

" Your next mission is to rendezvous with Gabriel in Italy, three miles from the Vatican city northern border. He has said he wishes to speak with me, but would not indicate why. I think we may have a new and powerful ally. You must find him and get him here safely quickly though, because Michael is hunting him down as we speak. My source said that Michael does not know of his whereabouts, but he is the right hand of God now, he has the means to find out. Make haste Diminity, don't fail us." Christos instructed.

Diminity left the room and went to the armory, being sure to keep his wings closed the whole way. When he arrived he went to his personal room where he kept his armor and weapons, specially designed for him to accommodate his wings and give him perfect cover.

The armor was jet black, constructed of carbon steel and titanium. Ivory was inlaid in the breastwork, and veins of black diamond ran along the shoulders and arms. Spike like protrusions extended at the elbows and ankles so he was more formidable with hand-to-hand combat. His gauntlets had spring-loaded spikes in the knuckles that would extend when enough pressure was put on the knuckles of each glove. His weapons were also special. He had one sword made of a mix between carbon steel and cast iron. The weight of it made it a formidable weapon if it were blunt, and the razor sharp edges made it even more deadly. He also had the fiber wire he had used on his previous mission, the nine millimeter, and two .44 magnums that were silver with crimson tribal designs going down the barrel. Along with a few basic weapons, Diminity kept a pendant that gave him telekinetic power so he could pry into human and Descendant minds and also have an extra edge in battle. All in all, he could be a one-man army.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In southern Italy, on the coast near the Gulf of Taranto, A man sat on the edge of the gallery at the top of a lighthouse, gazing at the sea, wondering when he would have to leave his sanctuary and flee from the place he'd called home for as long as he could remember. He and his two companions had started a new life, had been completely reborn, had taken their past and all but destroyed it. They rarely had dreams about those days anymore, and never thought about the past when they were conscious.

It was a trick of the mind really; being able to make ones self forget the deeds that would condemn any other man to insanity and imprisonment.

But those times of tranquility had come to an end. He had been in town gathering supplies. He was well known in town, having the disadvantage of being born with white hair and chestnut skin he could be spotted in the largest of crowds. He was well respected though, he had never stolen f rom the markets and offered his aid for little if no charge. On this day he had been uneasy, had known something wasn't right, and so he had taken his sword with him into town. As he was leaving town a pickpocket rushed past him, slicing his moneybag from his belt. He chased the pickpocket down and tackled him. After demanding the money's return the pickpocket drew a knife and went at him. Holding nothing back, the man drew his sword and easily parried the pickpocket's attack and stuck his sword through the pickpocket's neck, spraying blood onto the spectators behind the assailant. Now the guards were searching for him for murder, never mind that the death was entirely in self defense.

"Angel, we've got almost everything packed. Do you want to leave now or wait for them to find us?" a voice came from behind him.

Angel turned to face the man who had come up the stairs and smiled. Leon had been his friend since he was a child. The two of them, Angel and Leon, had been on their own since they were just entering their teen years. Both had been the victims of a group of raiders that burnt the small village they had lived in outside the capital of Romania. Their parents were killed but they survived, fleeing into the night while the raiders raped the women from the village. They had learned to survive on their own, made a living as thieves and murderers and had eventually become contract killers to make ends meet. Their bloody past had once marked them across all of Europe but a trick of fate occurred and they managed to stage their deaths. They then started the process of erasing their past with the help of Trinity, a woman who was Angel's last target as a contract killer. When he found her he was awestruck by her beauty, and made a point of protecting her rather than killing her. Leon didn't complain, because he knew how Angel felt about her and understood completely that it was merely a trick of fate.

Angel and Leon were names that the two had chosen for themselves upon going to Italy. Angel was short for Angelo meaning messenger angel and Leon was shortened from Leonardo. Angel had just turned twenty-three and Leon was still twenty-two. They had started their contract killing at sixteen and met Trinity at nineteen. Since then they had become vigilantes of sorts, wandering around Italy keeping the peace and making a living as drifters.

Angel stood up slowly and walked to Leon.

"What do you want to do?" he asked with a smile.

Leon shrugged to indicate it didn't matter to him because he knew they would be ok either way. Angel understood, and felt the same way.

"Where is Trinity?" he asked, placing a hand on Leon's shoulder.

"I think she's down by the beach," Leon responded, "I think she's going to miss the ocean when we leave."

"Don't worry, if that's the case then we'll find a new place on the coast. I want her to be happy, but not at the expense of our safety or comfort."

"I know what you mean _fratello_. I'd like a place on the coast; the sound of the sea is soothing."

The two clasped hands and embraced in a way only brothers understand and then they began to descend the lighthouse.

The sound of the sea cascading over the sand was soft and soothing. The sun was entering the final stages of its descent, when the sky turns violet with crimson hues and the clouds appear to be blue and gold. In the distance fish could be seen jumping out of the water, but the distance was too great to make out what kind of fish they were. Trinity was sitting on a rock pile on the edge of the tide. Her shoes were further up the beach, connecting a trail of footprints to the rocks. She sat silent, gazing out at the sea, with tear streaks on her face, and a fresh tear making its way down her right cheek.

Trinity knew what life she would be living when she joined Angel and Leon, but it still didn't dull the pain. The three of them had only lived in the lighthouse three years, but in that small space of time they had become completely different people. And now, after she had found a place to call home; had fallen in love with the sea, it was all shattered just because of a pickpocket in town. She didn't blame Angel; he was actually in the right. But the world was changing and any level of killing was not tolerated at all.

The fact that he instinctively knew how to kill so easily after all of this time was good and bad. It meant that they would survive, regardless of who came after them, but it also meant that they each would be able to revert back to their old ways in the blink of an eye, and that could be dangerous.

Trinity heard approaching footsteps and shot a glance behind her, being quick to hide her tears. Just as she thought, Leon and Angel were coming down to check on her, but they were far enough away they wouldn't be able to tell she had been crying. She faced away from them again and wiped the tears from her face, then she stood on the rock and looked back at them, waved and forced herself to smile, then dove into the water. The salt stung her cheeks a little and her eye as well, but that was ok; the point of diving into the water was to hide that she had been crying.

When she resurfaced the two were standing by her boots looking at her and smiling. Leon said something the Angel and he laughed. Angel then removed his coat and shoes and began to make his way to Trinity.

"I'll come to you!" she called as she began to swim to shore.

She arrived to find them offering her a towel and dry clothes. She gave Angel a skeptical look and he pointed to a bush closer to the lighthouse.

"You know we'll give you your privacy, but urgency is possibly what we need right now. Don't rush yourself, but don't take your sweet time either please."

She gathered her clothes and boots and ran behind the bush, quickly changing her clothes and drying her hair. She met the guys back down by the rocks, breathing a sigh of relief, but already knowing they were true to their word. Angel turned and gave her a quiver.

"I hope you remember how to use this. I bought it yesterday in the slums after my little problem in town. Before the day is out you'll probably have to use it. The bow's inside by Leon's sword. Now, I wanted to ask you. Do you want to leave now, or do you want to wait until it is essential to leave, in other words when they discover us here. If you want to stay until then it's fine because we can fight our way out of here no problem. It's up to you."

Trinity looked at the two of them. She opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped and turned back to the water. Another tear escaped her and rolled down her cheek. The next thing she knew Angel was standing next to her with his arm around her shoulders.

"We'll wait until they come. I understand." He said.

She fought the urge to break down into a full out cry as he embraced her. Knowing that he would endanger himself and Leon just to spare her a few more hours of happiness was a wonderful feeling, but at the same time she couldn't help thinking it would ultimately lead to disaster. Survival and combat came to him as an instinct, but if he became distracted by his feelings for her he could falter.

"Thank you…" She whispered, and then she let go of him and walked back out to the rocks.

Angel and Leon went back to the lighthouse in silence. Angel put on a hooded trench coat as soon as they entered the main building.

"I'm going to run and scout out any possible locations we will be safe, I'll follow the coast first, but if I find nothing there I'll go about a mile inland and make my way back. Stay here and keep an eye on her." He was out the door before Leon could even respond.

_Why does he care so much about me?_ Trinity wondered as she sat and listened to the tide. Only about a quarter of the sun was still visible and she wanted to watch it set one last time before she left. She lowered her feet into the water and smiled. Ever since she had left her home in France as a child she had been confused. She had left at only seven years old, taken by a man who had bought her for services concerning cleaning and house keeping. Her parents had been in a pinch for money, and she didn't like living there anyway. After she left she spent eight years with the old man before he passed away. She was to be sold into slavery but she fled to Italy the moment she heard. She found a place to live in Urbino near central Italy and began to take on the Italian way of life. She got into gangs, alcohol, and was almost drawn into a brothel to work. She had always been beautiful, but she had never known it. One day a hooded man came to her with a piece or parchment and a bag full of coins. He instructed her to arrange the deaths of every man on the list and she would be paid with enough money to set her for life. While she was taking out the men on the list she attracted the attention of Angel and Leon's contractor and thus became their target. Since coming to this place with the two of them she had felt home again, safe, content, and happy. Now it was all shattered, like a good dream interrupted by the crash of lightning. She sighed and looked back at the lighthouse. She couldn't see either of the men, and assumed they were inside discussing strategy. She looked back to the sea just as the last quarter of the sun was cut in half. It was almost time to leave.

Leon sat on the gallery of the lighthouse watching Trinity as well as the country surrounding the lighthouse.

He sometimes wondered how they had come so far when their lives before had been so involved, so recklessly brutal. It was like those days didn't exist anymore, and according to Angel they didn't. _"The past is called the past because it has passed. Therefore it doesn't exist anymore. We left that life behind us, and we're completely different people today,"_ were his exact words. Leon tried to think of it the same way Angelo did, but he would always have brief spells where the memories would pour into his minds eye like a flood from a broken dam. It often happened while he was sleeping, images of his past exploits coming back to him as if he were there again, the screams of women and children who got between him and his target. Often he would wake up screaming or crying, not caring if he woke Angel or Trinity. He had moved his room to the top of the lighthouse, so that they wouldn't hear him when he had these dreams. His problems persisted though. The visions sometimes came in the day as well, while he was eating, watching the ocean, or just relaxing. It had happened only once when Angel and Trinity were present, and it took all the self-control Leon had to keep them from realizing it. They had been hunting in the woods and as he drew his bow the deer he was aiming at turned into a woman holding a baby; at least in his mind it did. Thankfully he knew it was only a hallucination and released the arrow, as he normally would have.

Now he sat watching Trinity in the dying remnants of the day, and he wondered what would happen if they were attacked. Would he revert back to his animalistic instincts and brutally kill his assailants? Or would he try to fight back and see innocent victims where his foes stood?

The last glimpse of the sun slipped below the edge of the sea. Leon stood and began to pace the gallery, watching by the moon and starlight for any sign of approach. It was risky staying at the gallery, because if a threat came with speed he would barely have enough time to get down to Trinity. On the plus side, from the gallery he could see a lot farther than he would be able to from the ground.

The moon reflected off the water and illuminated the beach brilliantly. Leon could see Trinity with almost perfect clarity, and she was still gazing at the sea. Leon was almost overcome by a sense of tranquility when Trinity's head snapped in his direction and she leapt from the rocks and ran towards the lighthouse. Alarmed, Leon rushed to the opposite side of the gallery and searched for any sign of approach but saw nothing. Thinking maybe she saw something he couldn't see, Leon rushed down the stairs of the lighthouse, hoping to catch her at the bottom. When he got to the door she was only a few feet from the threshold.

"What's the matter?" Leon asked, struggling to catch his breath.

"I thought of a better way to escape!" She responded with excitement. "Why flee further into Italy? If the guards are after us then they're going to spread our names and faces. Eventually we won't be safe at all here. Why don't we go to the city, and buy or steal a ship? We can go to Sicily, or even further. We can pick up a crew for minimal pay at a bar. It's perfect!"

Leon listened with awe. He knew that Trinity was smart, but this was unexpected because neither he nor Angel had even considered it.

"There's only one problem." Leon started, "Angel's already left to find us a new place."

She thought for a minute then responded, "One of us can go to the city to arrange a crew and ship. The other can go find Angel and meet at the city."

"I can't leave you alone. Angel would never forgive me for one thing, but it's also just not safe." Leon responded with mild hesitance.

"I can take care of myself in this situation," she said, "If you remember, I was a target for you two when you were still in the business. You were only instructed to take out people dangerous to your boss's operations." A little venom entered her voice as she finished this last sentence.

Leon wanted to cringe from her words. First she hurt him by reminding him that he had once intended on killing her without a thought, and then the salt in the wound was bringing up the past in spoken words. They all talked about having a new life and secretly knew that the past was another lifetime ago. But after Leon's spells and Trinity's words, he couldn't help but wonder if Angel also had troubles letting go of the past.

"Fine," Leon finally said, "you go to the city and get a crew and scope out a ship for us to take, I'll go find Angel… are you sure you'll be ok?" He added the last as a matter of insurance to make sure she wanted this course of action.

She smiled and went into the lighthouse to get her coat and sword. Leon, being already prepared for the dangerous road, hugged her and told her to be safe when she returned. He then turned and ran into the forest to search for Angel. He hoped that he would find him soon.


End file.
